Subject: Re: Daumier-Smith and Empathy
From: christopher robin (majdumbo@yahoo.com)
Date: Wed Jul 25 2001 - 06:14:51 GMT
--- Scottie Bowman <rbowman@indigo.ie> wrote:
>
> '... sometimes the writer doesn't know himself all
> the meanings of his book ...'
>
> Since I make some of my money telling people stuff about
> themselves that I claim to know better than they do, I have
> to agree - to an extent - with Valérie.
>
> But only to a very limited extent. A great critic may
> occasionally be able to stand back & pick out patterns
> in a man's oeuvre - relating them sometimes, perhaps,
> it to the known facts of his life. But the smart asses who
> pontificate confidently about the underlying meanings
> in a book - through the identification of a lot of clichéd
> symbols - these guys should be taken out & put up against
> a wall.
>
> Unfortunately, it's a dead easy practice &, so, much favoured
> by academics. And then reproduced by their students like so
> many parrots hoping for an extra lump of sugar.
>
> Scottie B.
>
Im a new "fish" joined up after that bit on NPR I think it was.
In short, this discussion about readers saying absolutes about
what an author meant is a worthwhile one, but not to be overdone.
Just a minor question, why does it take a great critic to stand
bck and pick out patterns, maybe a high school calss of juniors
could do the same thing. Id say that the "smart asses...up against
a wall" shouldnt in anyform be put up against a wall, but should
be taken lightly, after all, every thing that is said is only the
persons opinion, dont pine over the little bits, just take the
thought and see if it makes any sense.
More to the point though, does it trully matter what that author
was trying to say? Maybe they werent trying to say anything, or
as Valérie put it, doesnt quite know themselves what was said. So
long as you can find something and back it up with some grain of
sanity, good for you.
I certainly did like taht last bit from scottie about the parrots
hoping for an extra lump of sugar, very well said.
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